I EXPECTED TO POP in and out in perhaps a half hour. But instead, I spent a good hour-plus filing through art at the Paradise Center for the Arts’ comeback Recycled Art Sale.
Nearly 10 years have passed since the Faribault arts center last solicited donations to sell to the art-loving public at discount prices as low as $1. As a thrifty art lover, I appreciate the opportunity to buy unique, affordable art while simultaneously supporting the Paradise.
On Wednesday afternoon, opening day of the four-day sale which ends with Saturday, June 20, hours of 10 a.m.-2 p.m., the place buzzed with people looking for art to take home.
Hundreds and hundreds of pieces filled the three main gallery spaces and the smaller student gallery and hallway, plus the gathering space outside the galleries. So much art. Plus frames and art books and mirrors. At times I felt overwhelmed. But not enough that I stopped looking.
The main gallery features the original art of Faribault area artists, all of the artwork hung on walls or displayed on pedestals. This art is priced a bit higher, but still affordable for an original.
I saw several pieces by my friend Rhody Yule, a Faribault sign painter who also painted portraits, landscapes and the occasional still life. I helped coordinate his one and only art show at the Paradise in January 2011. Six months later, he died at age 92.
Memories of my friendship with Rhody and his creativity made me smile as I viewed his over-sized landscapes, his floral and several other paintings. Maybelle Stark’s pheasant art reminded me that I have her 1959 painting of the H.H. King Mill in my art stash at home.
And in one corner I noticed portraits created by former Faribault resident Dana Hanson. I watched her paint portraits of musicians during Thursday evening concerts in Faribault’s Central Park. Missing from the gallery display was her portrait of Bob Dylan, once filling the blank space next to Judy Garland and below Elvis. Her portrait of “Faribault’s Founding Fathers”—Alexander Faribault, Taopi and Bishop Henry Whipple—hangs in Buckham Memorial Library.
I bet many of the shoppers at the recycled art sale could share stories of other local artists. Some were artists themselves, shopping for artwork and for frames for their own art.
Others, like me, were simply searching for art to bring into our homes. From prints to originals, it was all there along with pottery, ceramics and more. Framed art on the floor leaning into each other. Art in boxes. Art on tables. Art on walls. Art on shelves. So much art.
I found five pieces for $10, all but one custom-framed. Three are portraits of African women, two with children. Another features an abstract depiction of “Indian Market,” colorful poster art from Santa Fe. I can’t pinpoint a particular reason why I chose this art. Perhaps it’s because I’m currently drawn to diversity and pops of color. These pieces differ from most of the art I own, art which I regularly rotate.
I also purchased a woodcut print (#25 of 50), “Navigating the Attachment Journey,” by northern Minnesota artist and children’s book illustrator Betsy Bowen. I’ve always appreciated her nature-themed art crafted today in her studio inside a former historic Lutheran church in Grand Marais.
On this day, the historic Paradise theater held a whole lot of art from a whole lot of artists. Among the hundreds of pieces, I found new-to-me art to which I felt connected. The walls of my home may not be gallery walls. But they are walls where I showcase art that speaks to me, moves me, brings me joy. And that, to me, should define our personal art choices.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Reflecting on Alexander Faribault upon his June 22 birthday June 17, 2026
Tags: Alexander Faribault, Alexander Faribault House, birthday, Calvary Cemetery, celebration, commentary, Dakota, diversity, events, Faribault, fur trader, history, June 22, Minnesota, open house, Rice County Historical Society, Wahpekute
MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED since I toured the nondescript wood-frame house built by Alexander Faribault in 1853. Multiple times a week I pass by this house which sits along busy Minnesota State Highway 60 in downtown Faribault. It’s become so much a part of the local landscape that I don’t even notice the building which was briefly home to Faribault and his family. But it’s an important part of local history given Alexander Faribault founded the town in 1855.
On Monday, June 22, Alexander Faribault will be celebrated at a free birthday open house from 5-6:30 p.m. in his former home at 12 First Avenue Northeast. Born 220 years ago in 1806, Faribault died at age 76 in November 1882.
Attendees at the upcoming birthday celebration can learn a whole lot more about Faribault, the town and the house from staff and volunteers with the Rice County Historical Society. I’m always up to learning more about the city I’ve called home since 1984.
I know the basics about Alexander Faribault, a licensed fur trader who first established a trading post along the Cannon River in 1826 or 1827, depending on your information source. He was only twenty years old. He grew his business throughout the region, trading with the Wahpekute, a band of the Dakota, and moving his trading post to the confluence of the Cannon and Straight Rivers, current-day Faribault.
I imagine for Faribault, who was French Canadian and Dakota, developing trading partnerships with the Dakota proved easy given his understanding of the people, their language and culture. But later that same relationship proved challenging for him. Some locals, after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, no longer appreciated his friendship with the Dakota and his willingness to shelter some of them on his farm.
Back then, just like today, this community has not always been accepting of others. In the 1860s, the Dakota were targeted. Today it is the Somali community. It’s disheartening when history repeats itself, when differences in skin color, food, culture and language separate us. Alexander Faribault, as a mixed blood who embraced the Dakota, surely witnessed and felt the challenges of injustices and discrimination.
My community has certainly made progress in welcoming all to our city. Yet, we could do better. I still hear derogatory comments about our Somali neighbors, worsened by the current political climate. I still hear derogatory comments about our Hispanic neighbors, made worse by current immigration policies. We are all, unless Indigenous or descendants of slaves, of immigrant roots, something people often forget.
Alexander Faribault wasn’t “from” here. He was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. But he came here, established a fur trading business and eventually founded the city of Faribault. By all accounts, he was kind, generous and compassionate and served in many capacities from interpreter to territorial legislator to school board member to postmaster. I’m sure he had his flaws. We all do. But it seems Alexander Faribault did his best to build a strong and inclusive community that has grown into the diverse city of today. I think he’d appreciate a legacy of diversity.
On a 1958 marker at the entrance to Calvary Cemetery where Alexander Faribault is buried, these words are written about him: Race or creed did not color his judgments. He saw in every man the image of God and thereby the possibility of making this a better place in which to live.
Those seem necessary and profound words for all of us to read. Especially today.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling